VERONIKA GOWAN, THE MACARON QUEEN!

Posted in macarons by sallybr

I am absolutely excited to invite you to visit my cookie blog, aka For the Love of Cookies, as I have a very special guest blogger featured today. I have admired Veronika’s work for such a long time, she takes the concept of decorated macarons to the highest possible level. They are pure art. And she is not just about what they look like. Her fillings are very carefully crafted to be the perfect match for each design. She is a source of inspiration like no other! It is a huge honor to have her contribute to my cookie blog sharing how she designed and brought to life a box full of chocolates, all in macaron format. Please stop by to see it, clicking here. Below I share some of her creations. And to follow her, visit Instagram with a click here.

21Dec2023

UBE MACARONS

Posted in macarons by sallybr

Are you familiar with this Philippine ingredient? I was not, until my dear daughter-in-law Courtnie professed it to be her favorite flavor for all baked things… I was intrigued. Read a lot about it, gathered ingredients and went to work. For the macarons you will need ube extract and ube jam, which you can make yourself or buy it ready at the store. We do have a couple of great Asian markets in town and they carry exotic ingredients from all over the planet. For this adventure, I used store-bought jam, but stay tuned for my next post about it, in which I will show you how to make the jam from scratch.

UBE MACARONS
(from The Bewitching Kitchen, adapted from several sources)

For the shells:
200g Icing/powdered sugar (1 ⅔ cups)
115 g Almond Meal (1 + scant ¼ cup)
115 g egg whites at room temperature (approx. 4 eggs)
1/8 tsp of cream of tartar (optional)
100 g granulated sugar (½ cup)
¼ tsp ube extract
1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Line 3 heavy baking sheets with parchment/baking paper or Silpat mats. Layer the powdered/icing sugar and ground almonds/almond meal in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture looks like fine meal, about 12 pulses. Pass through a sieve and transfer to a small bowl or to a sheet of parchment/baking paper. Set aside.

Place the egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Make sure that the bowl and the whisk are impeccably clean. Starting on medium speed, whip the whites with the cream of tartar until they look like light foam. The whites should not appear liquid. The foam will be light and should not have any structure.

Slowly rain in the granulated sugar in five additions, trying to aim the stream between the whisk and the side of the bowl. Turn the speed up to high. Continue to whip the meringue until it is soft and shiny. It should look like marshmallow creme (marshmallow fluff). Add the vanilla and ube extract. Whip the egg whites until the mixture begins to dull and the lines of the whisk are visible on the surface of the meringue. Check the peak. It should be firm. Transfer the whites to a medium bowl.

Fold in the ground almond/almond meal mixture in two increments. Paint the mixture halfway up the side of the bowl, using the flat side of a spatula. Scrape the mixture down to the center of the bowl. Repeat two or three times, then check to see if the mixture slides slowly down the side of the bowl. Add drops of gel color and mix them briefly with a toothpick. Put the mixture in a piping bag fitted with your choice of piping tip (round, ¼ or ½ inch in diameter or 6 – 12 mm). If you don’t have a macaron mat, draw circles on baking/parchment paper about 2inches/5cm in diameter & turn the paper over before placing on the baking sheets. Pipe shells, I like to count numbers in my head and use the same count for each shell so they end up similar in size.

Slam each sheet hard four to six times on the counter/worktop. Let the unbaked macarons dry until they look dull but not overly dry. Drying time depends on humidity. In a dry climate, the macarons can dry in 15 to 20 minutes; in a humid climate, it can take 35 to 40 minutes.

While the macarons are drying, heat the oven to 300 F (150 C/130C Fan oven/Gas Mark 2). Bake one sheet at a time on the middle rack. Check in 11 minutes. If the tops slide or move (independently of the ‘feet’ when you gently twist the top), then bake for 2 to 3 more minutes. Check one or two. If they move when gently touched, put them back in the oven for 1 to 2 more minutes until they don’t move when touched. Let the macaroons cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan. The macarons should release without sticking.

Assemble the macarons: find two macarons similar in size and add a good amount of filling to the bottom of one of them. Place the other on top and squeeze gently to take the filling all the way to the edge. Store in the fridge for 24 hours for perfect texture.

Make the filling:

UBE BUTTERCREAM
100g Unsalted butter, room temperature
65g Cream cheese, room temperature
50g Ube halaya (If you can’t find any use ½ tsp ube extract and 20g icing sugar)
¼ tsp Ube extract

Whisk butter, cream cheese and ube halaya together until light and fluffy. Add ube extract and mix until well combined. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Match similar sized macaron shells with each other, fill and sandwich the cookies. Decorate the top with Royal icing swirls and sanding sugar, if so desired, or leave them plain. Keep in the fridge for 24 hours for perfect texture.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I am pretty happy with these! The ube gives the macarons a very interesting flavor, cutting the sweetness a bit. If you have never tried ube, please do so, you might fall in love with it, as I did… Big thank you to Courtnie for bringing this ingredient to my attention!

ONE YEAR AGO: Christmas Sourdough

TWO YEARS AGO: Star-Shaped Sun-dried Tomato Bread

THREE YEARS AGO: Cranberry White Chocolate Tart

FOUR YEARS AGO: I dream of Madeleines and a Tower of Cheesecakes

FIVE YEARS AGO: Dominique Ansel’s Chocolate Mousse Cake

SIX YEARS AGO: Slow-Roasted Eye of the Round Beef

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Steam-Roasted Indian-Spiced Cauliflower

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Creamy Zucchini-Mushroom Soup

NINE YEARS AGO: Ken Forkish’s Pain au Bacon

TEN YEARS AGO: Carrot and Cumin Hamburger Buns

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Potato Galettes a l’Alsacienne & Book Review

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Caramelized Carrot Soup

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Miso-Grilled Shrimp

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Pain Poilane

30Oct2023

REVVING THE ENGINES FOR HALLOWEEN!

Posted in Chocolate Bonbons, Cookies, macarons by sallybr

It is almost time!!!! I share with you three baking ideas to keep you appropriately spooked…

SKULL AND SPIDER MACARONS

The idea for these came from my friend Dorothy, who tagged me on Instagram after seeing this post. I opted for a filling of Caramel Buttercream and Apple Jelly for these scary creatures.

CARAMEL AND APPLE MACARONS
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

for the shells, use my default recipe.
I dyed the shells with a very small amount of AMERICOLOR CORK

For the filling:
60g butter
120g powdered sugar
pinch of salt
5 soft caramels (Werther’s)
2 tablespoon milk
apple jelly (store-bought is ok)

Pipe the shells in skull shape or round (if you prefer to simplify). Bake them, let them cool, and pair them.

Draw the design of your choice (skull or spider) on the shells.

Make the buttercream: beat the room temperature butter for a couple of minutes. Add the salt and powdered sugar, beat until almost incorporated (mixture will be dry). Microwave the caramels with the milk until very hot, and whisk the caramels to dissolve. Let them cool slightly and add to the buttermilk. Finish creaming everything together, you should not need to add any more liquid, but if necessary, add a few drops of milk to achieve piping consistency.

Add a circle of buttercream to the bottom shell, a little blob of apple jelly in the center, and close the macaron with the top shell. Keep in the fridge for 24 hours before eating.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: The idea for the filling came from this post. That is a great site for macaron ideas, by the way. I did not make a template for the skulls, just improvised them starting from a regular circle, so they are not all the same shape, which I think is even better for a spooky bake.

SPOOKY CHOCOLATE-COVERED OREOS

Use your regular mold for covering Oreos and use a contrasting color of chocolate to drizzle and glue sprinkles. The ghost is made with a smear of white compound chocolate on parchment paper, and orange sprinkles for the eyes. Once that is set (within a few minutes), place on the covered Oreo with a tiny amount of melted chocolate.

NINE BLACK CATS

These are my default Chocolate-Chipotle cutout cookies, iced with orange Royal icing and painted with Sugarprism. I just did a free-hand drawing, following the design of Kathy Barbro (IG page here).

ONE YEAR AGO: Happy Halloween from my Cookie Blog to You!

TWO YEARS AGO: Incredibly Simple Carrots

THREE YEARS AGO: Sarah Bernhardt’s Cookies

FOUR YEARS AGO: A Really Big Announcement

FIVE YEARS AGO: Stir-Fried Chicken in Sesame-Orange Sauce

SIX YEARS AGO: Monday Blues

SEVEN YEARS AGO: A New Way to Roast Veggies

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Two Takes on Raspberries

NINE YEARS AGO: Spice Cake with Blackberry Puree

TEN YEARS AGO: Own Your Kitchen with Cappuccino Panna Cotta

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Chicken Parmigiana, the Thriller

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Wild Mushroom Risotto

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Tartine Bread: Basic Country Loaf

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Pugliese Bread

21Sep2023

A BOUQUET OF MACARONS

Posted in macarons by sallybr

Last month I was minding my own business when my friend Vy sent me a message with a little macaron-design-teaser. This amazing baker – check her page here – shared some carnation macarons that were simply spectacular, and Vy thought I should try to make them (don’t I have great friends????). I resisted for a while, but then decided to go for it. I attempted two floral designs, first using my regular French meringue method, but that did not work well. So I am sharing the exact recipe I used for both, a Swiss-meringue version that is slightly sturdier and performed better to hold shape. The tulip-shape template for piping was from this site. I used it for the larger, pink flowers, the others were free-hand over a circle shape.

MACARON FLOWERS
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

100g almond flour
100g powdered sugar
100g egg whites
100g granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pink, red, green gel food color

Process almond flour and powdered sugar in food processor, about 10 pulses, then pass through a sieve. Reserve.

Bring the sugar and egg whites to the top of a pan with simmering water and whisk until the sugar is fully dissolved and the mixture feels smooth if you rub your fingers into it, 2 to 3 minutes. Immediately transfer it to a KitchenAid bowl and whisk on medium-high until the meringue form solid peaks that fold just slightly as you hold the whisk up. This will take 8 to 12 minutes. Add vanilla. Add the almond flour/powdered sugar mixture, put the blade beater and mix for a few seconds. Mix a little more by hand, remove a small amount do dye green, and dye most of the meringue pink or red. Proceed to do the macaronage but do not take it as smooth as normally for regular macs, you need to hold it back so that the mixture is thicker and holds its shape when piped.

Place the red meringue in a piping bag fitted with a leaf icing tip (104 works well). Place the green meringue in a piping bag fitted with a small round tip, maybe 1/4 inch.

Pipe petals in the shape you desire, then a little green stem. Do not bang the sheet. Let them fully dry until the surface is not moist at all. These need to dry more than round shells, or they will explode. Some cracks will happen, but they usually do not interfere too much with the design.

Fill the shells with the filling of your choice. I used raspberry buttercream (from this post, but regular butter instead of vegan).

Leave the macarons in the fridge for 24 hours before serving.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: The larger, pink version had a slight curve in the shape, so it is important that you print the template in two orientations, and then pipe half the shells in one particular way. The smaller, red flowers were symmetrical, so no need to worry about that.

The more you hold back the macaronage, the sharper the shape will be, and I could have made my batter slightly thicker, but it is hard to judge when to stop. I think it was a good compromise and I did not have that many cracks or explosions. All the shells were painted with a little luster powder and vodka but that step is of course optional. It is hard for me to leave cookies alone, as you know…..

If you enjoy making macarons, consider trying some alternative ways to pipe the batter, there are so many possibilities, I am thinking of autumn leaves next, so stay tuned!

ONE YEAR AGO: Chocolate-Hazelnut Tartlets

TWO YEARS AGO: Turkey Taco Salad

THREE YEARS AGO: Cheese and Pesto Emmer Roll-ups and Elaine’s Cookbook Review

FOUR YEARS AGO: Mango-Hazelnut Entremet Cake

FIVE YEARS AGO: Lebanese Lentil Salad and a Cookbook Review

SIX YEARS AGO: Cottage Loaf

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Sourdough Loaf with Cranberries and Walnuts

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Sichuan Pork Stir-Fry in Garlic Sauce

NINE YEARS AGO: Our Green Trip to Colorado

TEN YEARS AGO: Ditalini Pasta Salad

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Celebrate Wednesday with a Thai Seafood Curry

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Post-workout Breakfast

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Semolina Barbecue Buns

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Lavash Crackers

13Jul2023

LEMON MACARONS

Posted in macarons by sallybr

Nothing new in the recipe for the macaron shells but I am super thrilled to share the filling. Curds in general are a great match for the sweetness of these babies, but they have a major drawback: their moisture tends to destroy the shells, so usually they are best if not stored for more than a couple of days. But this curd recipe is different: it has lower moisture and won’t ruin the shells. I have tried and it delivers what it promised. It was designed by one of the greatest macaron bakers out there, Mimi. Check her very detailed post about her recipe here. I modified it slightly by using the microwave to cook the curd. I’ve been making curd in the microwave for years, to me it is easier and never fails. But you need to try with your own microwave and tweak the power and timing. Once that is done, you will love the method…

LEMON MACARONS
(filling slightly modified from Indulge with Mimi)

for macaron shells, use this recipe

Divide the batter in two, dye one portion yellow, one portion green. Pipe shells starting with one color and piping the other in the center.

for the curd:
zest of two lemons
76 grams lemon juice
2 eggs
50 grams butter, unsalted
180 grams granulated sugar

for the buttercream:
60 grams butter
160 grams powdered sugar
2 tablespoons lemon curd
heavy cream to adjust consistency, if needed

Optional decoration: fondant lemon slices, painted with airbrush and pearl dust.

Make the curd: cream butter and sugar together until incorporated and lighter in color. Add the eggs and beat until incorporated, then add the lemon juice and whisk well. Transfer the mixture to a microwave-safe bowl and cook at 80% power for about 4 and a half minutes, stopping to stir gently every 45 seconds or so. The temperature should reach 180F to 185F. Remove from heat, immediately add the lemon zest and pass through a sieve to have a very smooth curd. Let it cool to room temperature with a plastic wrap touching the surface. Transfer to the fridge until needed for the macarons. It is perfect making one day in advance.

For the Lemon Buttercream: Use a hand-held electric mixer and whisk the butter until creamy. Add the other ingredients except the heavy cream, and whisk until creamy and smooth. If needed, add a bit of heavy cream to loosen the mixture.

Pair shells of the same size and add a center of lemon curd, with a circle of buttercream all around it. Glue a lemon slice on top of the macaron using Royal icing. Keep the macarons in the fridge for 24 hours before serving.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I cannot tell you how much I loved these! In part because curd has been such a disappointment when coupled with macs. Yes, I know one can paint some chocolate on the shell as a barrier but I absolutely hate doing that. A very cumbersome step that I rather avoid. These turned out very lemony, super fresh, and NO effect on the shells. Happy Dance ON! I hope you give it a try, if you are not sure about the microwave step, just follow Mimi’s directions on her blog. And while you are there, browse through her amazing productions!